In the automobile business, a brass hat is a car for sale that has been
driven as a demonstrator by a manager or family member. The supposition
is that they have been cared for extremely well and should sell at a
premium price.

Bill Richardson, Orange, California

From: Stan Lyness (stanlyness gmail.com)
Subject: today’s quotation

If we are to believe the second bullet at Wikiquote,
Spinoza said “if a triangle could speak, it would say, in like manner, that
God is eminently triangular” 15 years before Charles de Montesquieu was born,
so I think “If triangles had a God, he would have three sides” is more
restatement than coinage. Of course de Montesquieu himself was a fine source of
aphorisms; we’ve enjoyed his in the newsletter before and look forward to more.

Fantastic picture accompanying this word with not all that well-chosen
words! The words should have been “male or female” to bolster the protester’s
viewpoint or more appropriately: “male and female, to varying degrees!”?

People of his ilk are not likely to have that good a command of the
English language!

Reiner Decher, Bellevue, Washington

From: Amy Lundblad (amylundblad gmail.com)
Subject: Sackcloth

I have a copy of an old photo
of my grandmother wearing a dress made of flour sacks and I have always
wondered about this, since she looks so miserable. The photo was taken
in the late 1800s and the dress looks somewhat fashionable and you have
to look closely to see that along the hemline it shows the emblem of the
flour mill which produced the flour. Since my great grandfather came from
Germany and descended from a family which owned a flour mill in Mosbach,
I never considered that there might be a religious angle to her wearing
that dress. Granted, the cotton sack containing flour is a finer weave of
cloth than jute.

A similar idea was adopted by the late Pres. Mobutu in the 1960s. He is said
to have decided to stop wearing western style suits and ties, etc., in favour
of a Mao suit collar, after a visit to China. The style worn countrywide
was known as an abacost from à bas
le costume (down with the suit).

David Tilling, Honiton, UK

From: Sarah S. Sole (via website comments)
Subject: sansculotte

When I saw the word for today, why did I think of Toulouse-Lautrec and
can-can dancers and smoky Paris cafes? I think that long ago I heard the
can-can dancers were so-called because they were, well, sansculottes.

In US and Canadian football, there’s the bootleg play, in which the
quarterback, after taking the snap, runs in the direction of one of
the sidelines; it’s usually preceded by a fake handoff to a running
back who’s headed in the opposite direction. “Bootleg” comes from the
quarterback’s hiding the ball from the defensive team by holding it
close to his or her hip or thigh. It’s deceptive -- which is fine, of
course -- but not illegal.

A nice collection this week of clothing words used metaphorically. It
collared my attention, though not everyone will cotton to that. Not a chintzy
word nor a shoddy definition. You were no bluestocking in your selection.